Thanks Bill, lots more memories still to be had
Chobham Common
I had intended to browse my local patch over the weekend but the thick grey clouds had put me off saturday and with a birthday celebration at a cocktail bar that evening, sunday was definately not going to happen even if the weather was good so that was spent in a darkened room watching Dinosaurs eat other dinosaurs and people, eating junk food!
Today however, I felt substantially better and I was after Silver-studded Blues (and hopefully a bit of birding as well, primarily after the Dartford warbler). The weather forcast claimed cloudy, then sunny then clouding over again so I figured an early start to get there to catch any sun that appeared. I got there a little after 8 and yes it was rather cloudy and although not too cold, I wasn't expecting to see any butterflies for an hour or two. Birding it was then and so off I went. I had familiarised myself with the Dartfords call the night before and it didn't take me long at all to locate one. After that, as often happens when you know what you're looking for, they were everywhere (or one was stalking me). I only managed one long distant shot, but it's clear enough to be identifyable so I'm happy with it
The clouds took a long time to thin, but it was becoming brighter. I wandered around keeping my eye's peeled for any flash of blue but only saw Common Heath Moths for the first few hours, constantly tormenting me in my perepheral vision.
I've no idea what these beetles are but there were lots of them peppered over a young birch tree
A shallow pond drew my attention. Hoping for some Odonata action several small moths flew up as I walked towards the edge. As usual I needed to know what I'd seen so I followed one a short distance and found a lovely Brown China-mark Moth
Also nearby was a male Longhorn moth
- Nemophora degeerella
Sometime after this I did finally see my first butterfly of the day, a Small Heath, the first of many. This one giving me a teasing glimpse of upperside
As usual they did that 'Small Heath trick' of finding that one annoying blade of grass to hide behind!
The sun was out properly by 11 but still no blue of any description. Lots of Heaths of every description though, Small, Common and a Latticed. There were also lots of Stonechats. Several times I found myself being scalded by them, obviously having absent mindedly having wandered near a nest.
Shortly after these pictures I did actually see a blue, a male who was on a mission to get somewhere and was in no mood to sit and let me know what it was, I was hoping he had some silvery studds and was the first of many.
Just after noon I finally found a slightly less active Blue and managed a record shot or two (one of which was horridly over exposed and no longer exists!)
Then he was off, quite likely the same one as I had seen before. More wandering around only revealed more Heaths and since I had covered quite a large portion of the site I began to think I was a week or two early for the Silver-studds here
. Oh well, it was still a nice day and I had ticked off an avian lifer
I set off on a slow meander back to the train station and stopped at another pool. Now it was sunny there were lots of damselflies, blue ones who never settled close enough to ID (too blue to be anything other than Common Blue or Azure though), and several Large Red including a pair in tandem which I followed and watched as the female attached her abdomen to form the unique Odonata mating posture
A little further on I stumbled across another blue. This one was definately not in a rush to go anywhere so I figured I had finally got my chance to get some Silver-studded closeups. I watched as he fluttered around some Birds-foot Trefoil, almost female like, presumably looking for one, maybe a female was emerging in the undergrowth as I watched
and then he landed...
It was sometime more before he......she opened her wings to bask revealing why I had been mistaken
She was obviously looking to lay and although there was quite a large patch of lush Birds-foot Trefoil in full sun she really wasn't happy with it for some reason and finally found some scrappy, trodden on
Medicago sp. at the side of the path
well after this I continued my walk back stopping off at the first pond I had visited. Loads of Blue Damselflies now, this time I could ID some as Azure Damselflies, this is a young female:
I was also rather pleased to find something I last saw as a kid, a Green Tortoise Beetle
very cute
This tiny micro moth also caught my eye in the grass and when I got the macro lense on it, it really sparkled even in the shade!
- Glyphipterix thrasonella
I played a little game of chase with a Green Tiger Beetle, They're tricksy little buggers!
and just as I was leaving the site another Blue made an appearance, this one turned out to be a male Common.
So not quite what I was intending but a good day nonetheless....tomorrow Blean Wood and Heath Fritillary and the weather forcast looks perfect!
at you living close to the WWH (Wurzels Wiltshire Hillside). It was pretty amazing on my day, must be spectacular when you get perfect weather!
!)
